Snowbound
by Song of the North
Summary: When Hikaru, Waya, and Isumi get trapped in a blizzard and stay at Touya's house for the night, they never expected that they wouldn't be able to get out...HikaAki
1. Into the Dragon's Lair

* * *

Disclaimer: The words are mine, the characters aren't.

Snowbound

Chapter One - Into the Dragon's Lair

"Remind me, once again, how I manage to get in these situations." Shivering, Isumi Shinichiro dutifully followed the other two members of the former 'Team Insei' as they struggled through the snow.

Hikaru muttered a soft curse as one of his sneakers was promptly frozen by a blast of wind. "How were we supposed to know some freak blizzard would be coming?"

"Oh, I don't know." Isumi paused to pretend to look studious. "Perhaps because the weather reports today all said 'blizzard coming at two o'clock'?"

"And yet, you followed us," Waya pointed out sarcastically.

This was injust. "You told me not to worry because we would definitely have finished playing by two! But no, you just had to ask for a rematch after than old man beat you at a two stone handicap, right?"

"Hey!" Hikaru interrupted their bickering. "I think Touya's house is close to here; let's see if he'll let us stay there for a bit!"

"Eh?" Waya would have issued a violent protest, but his teeth were chattering quite hard, and he valued his life more than his pride. At this rate, he would get down on his knees and beg for Touya Akira to let him inside. The three boys scampered over the snow to the rather impressive-looking structure standing sentinel over a white-blanketed yard.

It took Isumi a few times to get his fingers functioning enough to press the doorbell. The three of them waited.

And waited.

And...waited.

Right when they were about to give up (no matter how nice and warm the house looked through the window), they heard running footsteps, and a voice calling out, "Shindou!"

Wearing a look of absolute bewilderment, Touya Akira raced up to the bizarre trio. "What are you doing? You all look frozen."

"Yeah, well, t-that's great," Waya muttered back, shivering. He eyed Touya's gloves covetously.

The 6-dan inserted a key into the door and opened it. "Come on in." He led in way into the wonderfully warm living room. He disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the three boys to thaw by themselves.

"Right, so now he just abandons us," Waya snapped. "So polite, honestly."

Isumi sighed. "You'd be complaining even more if he was here, Waya."

"...point conceded..."

Hikaru was glancing avidly around. "Oi, TOUYA!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. The other two exchanged dubious glances.

Touya poked his head around the corner. "What?"

"Your parents are out, right?"

"Yes, they're in China."

"Can we stay here tonight? I mean, there's an ice storm outside, subways are closed, etc."

Touya's head disappeared again.

Waya blinked. "Is that a no?"

A few seconds later, the 6-dan reappeared, holding four steaming mugs of tea. He handed them around, smiling as he heard the sighs of satisfaction. "I suppose you can stay here, but how'd you get stuck in the storm in the first place?"

"Waya's fault," Isumi replied, jerking a thumb at his friend. "Long story."

"Oh." Touya nodded, and sent Waya one of those politely condescending I'm-rich-and-perfect-and-you're-not looks that pissed him off to no end. Not that there was anything he could do about it; Touya could always kick him out of the house if he protested.

"Sooo." Hikaru drained the remainder of his tea and leaned back in the chair. "What d'you guys want to do? As a warning, the only games Touya has are Go and NetGo."

"What's wrong with that?" Sounding sorely offended, their host shot Hikaru a virulent glare. "Maybe if you concentrated more on Go, Shindou..."

"I do concentrate! You're just...obsessed." Deciding that that was a perfect retaliation, the 4-dan propped his feet up on the immaculate table and leaned back in his chair.

He was rewarded with a flat glare, along with a flicker of Touya's eyes from his feet to his face and back. There was obviously a hidden meaning behind that glance (Touya's eyes were practically yelling 'GET YOUR FEET OF THE TABLE, MORALLY DEFECT LOSER!'), but Hikaru chose to ignore it. "You know, Shindou, you were supposed to meet me at the Go salon today."

"I...was?" _Oh, shit._

"Of course, I heard about the blizzard, and called your house to say I couldn't make it. Your mother answered."

He didn't see where this was going.

"And she happened to say you were out with some friends for the day but would probably be back home at six."

Oops.

"Now, maybe my memory's lacking, but I was under the impression that we scheduled to meet at four." His emerald eyes flashed.

Hikaru opened his mouth, closed it again, and removed his feet from the table to placate his rival. "Well, you see, er, I figured you, um, weren't stupid enough to go out in the blizzard, so, er, I didn't need to worry about meeting you...?"

"Are you calling me stupid? Because I just went out to leave a message at the Go salon in case you were stupid enough to actually go."

"Are you calling _me_ stupid? Bakayaro!"

"Hypocrite!"

"Idiot!"

"Inconsiderate jerk!"

"Bastard!"

"Egotistical arrogant supercilious ignoramus!"

Waya blinked. "You can sort of tell who went to Kaiou, can't you."

"Yeah." Isumi glanced from one to the other. "Er, are they friends?"

"I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THIS! I'M LEAVING!" Hikaru stood up, considered the blizzard swirling outside, and stomped into the kitchen.

Touya followed, still streaming insults. "IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE, THE DOOR'S THAT WAY!"

"OH, SO YOU WANT ME TO FREEZE? SADIST!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO LEAVE!"

"...no, I don't think they can be counted as friends," Waya replied.

Hikaru stormed back in, Touya trailing, both of them having made a full circle around the Touya home. "I'M GOING TO SLEEP!" the 4-dan bellowed.

"You CAN'T!" Touya yelled back. "It's four o'clock, you haven't had dinner yet! If you go to sleep _now_, you're going to wake up at midnight for a snack that consists of everything in the refridgerator!"

"Like I'd eat your cooking!"

"At least I can make toast without gettting burnt!"

"Are you kidding? Your toast's _black_!"

"Yeah, but my _fingers_ aren't burnt! Last time you made toast, you hopped around for an _hour_ whining that your fingers were falling off!"

Hikaru blinked thoughtfully. "Hmm. Was that the time where you turned on the stove and set the oven mitt on fire?"

"But when I turn on the stove, at least the flame goes up, instead of a cloud of carbon monoxide!"

"That was _once! Once!" _

Touya glared at him. "I had to sleep in the backyard for days."

"Well, serves you right." The 4-dan slumped down on the couch and began flicking through stacks of tsumego books absently. Touya stormed out again; after a pregnant pause, during which Waya and Isumi both tried to think of something to say, Touya reentered.

"There, I've ordered ramen from the shop nearby. Happy now?" He tossed his head angrily.

As if he had been thrown onto a trampoline, Hikaru bounced out of the couch and tackled Touya. "You're the best!"

"Mmmph!"

"Eh? What did you say?"

Pushing back on his rival's chest, Touya groaned. "I said, get off me! You're heavy."

"Did you just call me _fat_?"

...and on and on it went...

* * *

In the end, all four of them ended up sleeping in Touya's room. The other three were terrified of touching anything that belonged to Touya Kouyou, out of a nonsensical case of extreme paranoia. Besides, Touya's room was large enough to accomidate all four of them - Waya muttered about spoiled brats for a while - and they spread out the extra futons.

It was around midnight when Hikaru woke up, and though he'd eaten three bowls of ramen, his stomach was grumbling. He glanced around, deciding whether it would be best to leave the shelter of the thick mink blanket Touya'd provided all three of them with, or stay under the covers and ignore the growling.

Glancing over, he blinked. Touya was curled up into a tiny ball under a thin blanket, shivering.

"Eh?" Hikaru tried to figure it out. It took him a bit of time that he realized that a) there were three people in the Touya household, which meant b) there would most likely be three winter blankets, which meant c) since he, Waya, and Isumi were guests, then d) as a good host, Touya would be obligated to give them the thickest blankets, leaving himself to freeze.

If Hikaru had been completely awake, he would never have done what he did. As it was, he tossed half his blanket over his rival - grinning as Touya quickly wrapped himself up like a cocoon - and snuggled in next to him.

Closing his eyes, he went back to sleep.

* * *

"All right. Granted, I don't like Touya, but even I have to admit this is adorable."

It was the voices that woke him. Grumbling slightly, Touya shifted, then froze as a pair of arms hugged him tighter around the waist. Perhaps he was still dreaming. Yes, that was a plausible explanation.

He blinked open his eyes, stared straight into Hikaru's face - which was about three milimeters, give or take a few nanometers, away from his - and screamed.

Naturally, Hikaru woke with a start and leapt ten feet into the air. "T...T...Touya!"

"What the hell were you doing on _my_ futon?!"

Waya exchanged a dubious glance with Isumi.

"You were freezing last night, so to prevent you from dying, I had to share my blanket with you, no duh!"

"Like you care whether I die!"

"Of course I do! Without you, I'll never reach the Hand of God!"

"Oh, is that all you see in me?"

"Yeah, that and a stubborn brat who can't bring himself to admit he needed a blanket!"

Both huffing, the two whirled and glared at Waya, deciding to vent their anger on someone else. "Why are you just standing there? Go make us breakfast!"

"Yeah!" Hikaru echoed.

"What?" Waya backed away subtly, pushing Isumi in front of him. "Hey, Isumi, you heard them! They want breakfast! Hurry up, now!"

Isumi blinked, decided that everyone else in the room was insane, and that he himself was potentially demeted, as well. Giving up on the thought of leading a normal life, he meandered over to the kitchen and began tossing random ingredients into a pot.

He was just about to finish cracking the eggs when a violent screech caused him to drop the eggs - shells and all - into the pot. Ignoring the mess, he followed the sound of the scream to the front room, where Waya had pulled open the curtains.

The windows were entirely blocked by snow.

They were snowbound.


	2. How Not to Wake Up a Slumbering Dragon

Snowbound

Disclaimer: I wish Akira was mine. I really, really do. Actually, any bishie would suffice...I'm not too picky. Having a Go genius could be potentially helpful, though...

Chapter Two - How Not to Wake Up a Slumbering Dragon

"See, if you'd just listened to me, none of this would have happened." Isumi paced up and down Touya's living room. "We wouldn't be stuck here, we'd be eating breakfast, and my parents wouldn't want to kill me."

"You don't _know_ your parents want to kill you," Waya replied optimistically.

He was rewarded with a vicious jab at Isumi's cell phone, which began to relate the message: 'Shinichiro! Wherever you are, get back home right now! We're going to KILL you!'

"Ok, you do." Waya blinked. "Say, what _are_ we having for breakfast, anyways?"

The answer came in the form of a few pieces of absolutely blackened toast flung out the kitchen door at their heads. This was followed by a sharp screech of anger - presumably Hikaru, since Touya most likely wouldn't screech - and the violent scuffling noises that ensued caused the other two pros to back away from the kitchen.

When Hikaru finally emerged, looking triumphant (besides the fact that a frying pan was stuck lopsidedly on his head), he declared, "Touya's having a bit of trouble."

"With what?" Isumi asked wearily, expecting the worst.

"The toaster." For some reason, the 4-dan seemed quite pleased with himself. "He's...er...having technical difficulties."

* * *

Touya Akira 6-dan, one of the two fast-rising stars in Japan's Go world, was not having a good day.

Firstly, Hikaru had apparently commandeered his house. After all, even if all four of them were stuck here, _he_ should be the one giving orders, not Hikaru. But no, after dumping out the mess Isumi had made in the kitchen, Hikaru had ordered him to make toast.

_Toast? I'll show you toast!_

Purposely switching the setting on the toaster oven to 'black', Touya had patiently waited until the pieces were charred before handing them to his rival with a brilliant smile. This had resulted in the aforementioned toast to be thrown out into the living room, where they apparently collided with the other two pros' heads, if the resulting yelps meant anything.

Hikaru was not a morning person. Touya realized that a bit too late as he found himself, one minute later, with his head jamned in the toaster oven. Luckily, it was unplugged, or his parents would have been able to sue Hikaru for a hell of a lot of money. As it was, he was now firmly stuck. The only compensation he had was that he'd cracked a saucepan over his rival's head as well.

The scent of burnt toast was overwhelming. Touya counted slowly to ten before yanking on his head. It was no use; he was firmly embedded.

_Now, think about this logically. If you managed to get stuck in here, you can get out. Maybe if you twist your head to the left...?_

He did as his mind told him, and bashed his head against the plastic. _Ok, I'm not trying that again..._

"Oi, Touya! You're still stuck?"

He closed his eyes and again counted to ten, this time by intervals of 0.1. _Just breathe, and stay calm._ "Yes, Shindou, I am still stuck. Could you get this infernal contraption off me?"

"You forgot the magic word!" Oh, sure, _now_ he was all cheerful. Touya trembled with the indignity of it all. He was going to kill Hikaru - strangle that overenthusiastic monkey with his bare hands. Or, perhaps, he'd fill the boy's absurdedly bright yellow backpack with rocks and then throw him off a bridge...or he'd...

Isumi pulled off the toaster oven.

Touya blinked. Running his hands through his hair to rid himself of the toast crumbs, he nodded politely to the older pro. "Arigatou, Isumi-san."

"Right, you're all polite to him, eh? Age discrimination, I say!"

"No, it's just a natural instinct to be more polite to those people who have a semblance of maturity."

Before the two rivals could leap for each other's throats again, Waya and Isumi subdued them. While Isumi chose the normal method of merely grabbing Touya's shoulder, Waya sat on top of Hikaru, effectively smothering him.

"Now, let's talk about this rationally," Waya began placatingly. He took a deep breath, still smiling. Suddenly, the smile vanished. "I'M STUCK IN A HOUSE WITH THE MOST SPOILED PERFECTIONIST BRAT FROM HELL! RATIONAL TALK BE DAMNED!"

"Waya!" Isumi, the eternal pacifist, intervened.

Waya ignored his friend. "And that's not the worst part. The worst thing is...we still haven't had breakfast yet!"

* * *

Apparently, Waya was quite skilled with cooking, because the eggs he managed to fry tasted more like eggs than rubber. Even the hash browns he made weren't _completely_ burnt, only partially.

Touya wandered around, looking for something to drink, since the refridgerator was basically empty - he'd been planning to go shopping for instant food on the day of the blizzard. Hikaru accompanied him, and discovered a pretty-looking bottle of a translucent green color. He picked it up expectantly; seeing that the liquid within was a dark red, much like the cranberry cordial Touya Akiko made so well, he decided to bring it upstairs.

Without consulting Touya, he poured the drink into four glasses and handed them round. "I think it's just cranberry juice," he assured Isumi, who was vaguely concerned about the appearance of the drink.

"It's good," Waya exclaimed, downing his glass as quickly as humanely possible. He licked his lips appreciatively, pouring himself another cup. Hikaru followed suit; Isumi sipped conservatively. There was something about the drink that the older pro felt was familiar; he couldn't tell what it was, however. After considering it for a few more minutes, he shrugged and continued drinking conservatively.

Touya, dialing on his cell phone, glancing over with a puzzled expression on his face. He shrugged, finished, and waited patiently. "Otousan?"

The former Meijin's voice came through the other end. 'Akira. Is everything alright? Ogata contacted me about a blizzard in Japan.'

"I'm not physically hurt, if that's what you mean." He cast a deprecating glare at where the others were beginning the down the drink in increasing quantities. "Er...the doorway is blocked by snow, so I'm stuck in the house. Isumi-san, Waya, and Shindou are here as well."

'Oh.' Touya Kouyou paused for a minute. 'Shindou-kun. Yes.'

"Otousan?"

'Never mind.' Kouyou frowned thoughtfully. 'I suppose Isumi-kun's old enough to take care of all of you.'

"I'm seventeen!" the beleagured 6-dan protested.

'Yes, I know. I need to go now. Your mother says hello as well.' There was a soft click.

Touya glanced at his phone in bewilderment. "That was a strange conversation." He glanced over at the rest of his companions and noted just how strange they looked. "Shindou?"

"What, Touya?" Hikaru giggled shrilly, on his sixth glass. Waya howled with laughter, although nothing particularly amusing had happened.

"Where'd you get this drink?"

"Eh? You want more?" Hikaru proffered the almost-empty bottle, sloshing its contents down his shirt as he did so.

"Shit!" Touya recognized that bottle, and the way Hikaru and Waya were acting only served to heighten his certainty. "Shindou, you baka, that's wine!"

"Is it really?" Hikaru peered at it curiously. "Heeeeee, that's funny!"

Isumi picked up the decanter and tossed the remainder of its contents down his throat. Looking severely pissed, Waya smacked the older boy on the head. "You big bully! That was mine!"

"I'm actually of legal drinking age, unlike you, brat," Isumi retorted, along with a high-pitched giggle.

"Damnit." The trusty cell phone was pulled out once more; flicking through the numbers set on speed-dial, he selected one. "You've got to help me!"

* * *

Ogata Jyudan was already depressed.

This was due to the fact that his ex-girlfriend had sent him a virus and thus demolished his laptop's hard drive. It wasn't that he cared that they'd broken up; she was one of those annoying whiny materialistic girls who merely tried to sap him of all his money. No, it wasn't that. He was merely mourning the loss of everything he'd had stored on his computer, most of which was...er...not fitting for children's eyes.

After having already ingested various amounts of alcohol, he barely managed to pick up the phone. Nevertheless, as soon as Touya's voice called out, 'You've got to help me!', he was alert.

"Akira? What's going on?"

'Shindou, Waya, Isumi...trapped in the house...'

"Oh." Ogata frowned. "The blizzard, you mean?"

'Yes. And they've been...' There was a crackle; Ogata growled at the phone.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

'They're drunk,' Touya managed to choke out.

"Are they really?" The Jyudan smirked. "I've taught you well, Akira." He laughed sardonically before hanging up the phone before slipping back into a depressed stupor. Lucky Akira.

Touya stared at his cell again. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"Touya!" Hikaru squealed. "Sit down!"

"No, I'll stand." The 6-dan backed away, especially after noticing the way all of the other boys were eying him like he was a very delicious...er...bowl of ramen.

Not about to take 'no' for an answer, Hikaru tried leaping on top of his rival. He miscalculated and ended up sprawled over the couch, gazing up into the mildly worried/amused eyes of Touya. "Oops."

Touya listed his options.

1. Kick them out of the house.

2. Call the police.

3. Tie them up and store them in the closet.

4. Wait patiently until they went to sleep.

5. Scream until something happened.

He next considered them. The first two obviously wouldn't work, due to their current positions. The third was more like something Ogata would do. The fifth was out of the question; Touya Akira did not lose his temper ever. Unless, of course, explaining to Shindou why he was right and the 4-dan was wrong.

That left him with option four. Unfortunately, while he was endowed with an amazing quantity of patience, the three boys didn't seem to want to sleep anytime soon.

6. Go to sleep yourself until this nightmare is over.

Yes, option six was decidedly the best. He cast a last sorrowful look around the remnants of the living room - Isumi and Waya were having lots of fun wrecking it - and wandered to his room, firmly shutting the door with a final click.

By the time they were done wandering around the house, all three intoxicated pros were fairly bored. The only room they had left to trash was Touya's. Either that, or they could do the right thing and put the rest of the house to rights.

It wasn't really that hard a choice. A minute later, three heads peeked in at where Touya was comfortably buried under a blanket.

"Awwww, how kawaiiii!" Waya slurred.

Isumi's eyes lit up. "I have an idea!"

"What?" Hikaru chirped brightly.

"Go wake him up, Shindou! Except, you know, in stories and stuff, you've gotta kiss pretty people to wake them up!"

"Yeah!" Waya echoed. "Go on!"

"Eh?" Hikaru considered that. "Ok..."

Tiptoeing over to where his rival was peacefully slumbering, unaware of his impending doom, Hikaru knelt down and, with the encouragement of the other two, pressed his lips firmly to the 6-dan's.

His first thought was that Touya tasted amazingly sweet. His next thought was that he was in a happy place full of fluffy white bunnies and colorful bubbles.

And then Touya's eyes snapped open, blazing emerald, furious, and he remembered why every fantasy manga he'd ever read had told him not to wake up a sleeping dragon.

* * *

Yep, sucky chapter. Sorry. Heeeee. -Song


End file.
